Brilliant buskers and bands provide a live True/False soundtrack

Aarik Danielsen

Sunday

Feb 24, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 24, 2013 at 1:00 AM

A movie without music is incomplete. Certainly, words and pictures can tell whatever story is being conveyed. But a soundtrack, whether spare or soaring, can aid us as we seek to understand those words and pictures in a more visceral, internal way.

Similarly, a film festival without music is not everything it could be. That has been the mindset of True/False Film Fest organizers from the beginning. For 10 years, they have programmed bands and buskers as diverse and stimulating as the festival's documentaries themselves. In doing so, they've helped attendees enjoy a more-rounded experience by giving them a soundtrack for processing what they've seen  and partying the night away. Here is a look at just 10 of the vast and varied acts brought together for True/False 2013. Check the Live Music calendar for showcases and concerts these acts will be playing  for many of them, in addition to various busking roles and pop-up appearances  and truefalse.org/program/music for a more comprehensive lineup.

David Wax Museum: These True/False veterans return with a patented yet evolving blend of American folk tones and regionalized Mexican roots music. The band's core is composed of David Wax and Suz Slezak. A Columbia native, he sings and plays guitar with the charm of an old-time cowboy poet; she contributes keening violin melodies and primal percussion, striking and scraping across a quijada, fashioned from a donkey's jawbone. The band has been lauded by the likes of NPR, Time and The New Yorker  and justifiably so. Its performances are soulful and buoyant, while its latest record, "Knock Knock Get Up," revealed continued maturity in the songwriting department.

Mucca Pazza: T/F directors Paul Sturtz and David Wilson enlisted the help of this Chicago collective  and past festival favorite  to supply the fanfare needed for True/False's 10th iteration. Proving that band geeks can grow up and get down, this ecumenical quasi-marching band draws from deep wells of funk, delivers cinematic circus tones and gets listeners marching to the beat of its very different drummers. The group's sound is marked by dazzling percussion, abstracted guitars and a mercilessly awesome brass section.

Yva Las Vegass: One of the most visceral, immersive experiences of this year's festival is bound to happen off-screen. The gorgeous, from-the-gut performances of this artist, who comes from New York by way of Seattle and South America and once collaborated with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, exist as containers for all the drama, joyful and otherwise, of the human experience. Describing a truly one-of-a-kind sound, NPR's Felix Contreras recalled being "knocked out by the way she infuses Venezuelan folk traditions with a punk aesthetic."

A Hawk and a Hacksaw: This New Mexico pair possesses the sort of sonic pedigree that tends to elevate expectations to an almost unrealistic plane  Jeremy Barnes once drummed for Neutral Milk Hotel and Heather Trost has collaborated with the likes of Beirut. Yet, the duo goes above and beyond, creating evocative, largely instrumental poems that derive language from world and folk music, especially that of eastern Europe and Mexico. Since its work sounds like it fits some romantic, nomadic road movie, it's unsurprising that the group has toured a live score to the 1964 Ukrainian film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." Of that work, Pitchfork's Nick Neyland wrote, "There's a bounty of stylistic shifts all sewn together seamlessly, making this feel like a form of magic carved out of earthy base material." Sounds like a great description of the duo  and of True/False itself.

Paul Rucker: "I play the cello in a way that it was probably not intended to be played," Paul Rucker once told a Seattle TV program. Not only does he explore a stunning array of tonalities, rhythms and forms, he has played in contexts, both expected and unexpected. Symphony halls and street corners have been performance venues; his music is intimate enough for sax-cello duos and jazz groups but large enough for 22-member ensembles. Most notably, Rucker has melded his work with visual and interactive art to exercise a seemingly boundless imagination.

Nathaniel Braddock: To call the Chicagoan a guitarist is a bit like dubbing Matisse a painter. Yes, he was that, but he also transcended the average definition of the term. Braddock, too, goes beyond the scope of ordinary ax-slingers, exploring a wealth of textures, moods and modes. He has played in rock acts, collectives uniting African and American musicians, and ensembles exploring everything from reggae to punk and Afropop. Braddock has applied his skilled hands to electric arrangements of opuses by Stravinsky and other 20th-century masters and assimilated the quirks and qualities of Javenese and Balinese gamelan and church bell music into various projects.

Mountain Animation: Add this Brooklyn duo to a heaping helping of talented indie-grass acts. Zack Orion and Scott Murphy's music is rhythmically playful yet possesses pathos that's hard to shake. While these boys can play it fast and loose  they boast of "lightning quick" banjos and "flame-throwing violin mayhem"  their sound is as much about lyricism and color as manic fret manipulation.

La Operacion Jarocha: This Mexican collective colors the soundtrack of True/False selection "Who is Dayani Cristal?" with jarocha music derived from their native Veracruz. Spirited strumming and poignantly picked melodies come together in a sound that has never met a stranger. Even if you grew up on the other side of the globe, there is something welcoming and almost inborn about the form's rich character and true heart.

Wooden Indian Burial Ground: "Particularly molten" is the way New York Times scribe Jon Pareles described the music of these Oregonians. The band plays a fuzzy, buzzy blend of surf rock and psychedelic pop, blissfully straddling the line between meticulous musical construction and an everything's-shot-to-hell aesthetic. Crisp drums, piercing organs, gritty riffs and copious amounts of feedback characterize the band's twisted takes on early rock tropes. "The point of the songs is the way they ride their rudimentary riffs toward euphoric dementia," Pareles concluded.

Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu: A pair that would beat most musical full houses, Woolf and Bilyeu solidified their mountain music bona fides long ago. Possessing a weathered yet angelic voice, she is the Ozarks' answer to Emmylou Harris. As lead singer for Missouri legends Big Smith, he has wrapped simple, profound phrases in mature, spirited tones. When they harmonize, it's pure Americana bliss.

This article was published in the Sunday, February 24, 2013 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "SCORING BIG: Brilliant buskers and bands provide a live True/False soundtrack."

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